Uff...

I just spent the last six hours shopping, carrying in, and putting away...well...months worth of groceries.  Money has been tight for the last few months, despite my job, and while Z and I are both prone to packing the pantry, freezer, and fridge, the transition to me working has meant no menu planning, me not cooking much (because I am working during the hours when we do most of the cooking), and well...I just haven't felt like shopping.

I kind of go into shut-down mode when money gets tight, and I get afraid to spend ANYTHING.  The minute the paycheck comes in, and the basics are paid, mentally my brain says 'No more money!  Don't spend anything!'  which is great for the bank account an all, but not good for us as a family.  When I shop carefully and menu plan, our food budget stays under control.  When I don't, all of the sudden each meal is $50-$60, and that is NOT in our budget.  Plus it gets frustrating to my husband when he works all day and then HAS to come home and cook.  Don't get me wrong - he loves to cook - but when he HAS to be the one doing it, he doesn't enjoy it.

Also, he absolutely ABHORS menu planning.  He can't stand the idea that a week in advance (or more, since I like to write menu plans for a whole month) you would write what you're having on a given day - because you might not feel like eating that on that day!  (I grew up with what you get is what you get - so it's not a big deal for me.  Plus, I menu plan things I like to cook/eat, so it is a win/win for me.)

But anyway - all that is to say that we had completely emptied our freezers, cabinets, pantry, etc.  All that was left were those weird containers of leftovers in the freezer that nobody quite knows what they are, and a few random other ingredients that just don't make a full meal.

So I started after I dropped the kids off this morning, and initially just planned to buy some meat - specials that a couple of different stores had in the ads this week.  And then...because you should never shop on an empty stomach, all heck broke loose, and I spent WAAAAAY too much.

But, I have to look at it as an investment, because we had emptied all of our 'emergency' stores, and now they're all full again - so full that I had to rearrange a lot of cabinets/pantry space, and I was jamming things into the freezer.  And, I have some fantastic steaks I got for a steal, that my husband will enjoy for dinner tonight!  Yay!

Sadly, in a massively rookie mistake, I did all the shopping by noon, and came home with a van LOADED with groceries, that I had to carry in all by myself!!!  I appreciate my kids so much more after that!  It's nice to have them to carry everything in, put it (sort of ) away, and clean up the mess!  Granted, they like it too because then they know exactly what I bought so they can swipe it later, but....it's just a blessing to ME to know that, should something bad happen, we've got a lot stored up to work with.

Aaaaand now...to go wake the sleeping bear.  Because of all the shopping, C's nap ended up being a little late, and I have to get her up to go pick up kids from school....this isn't going to end well...